Vanadium phosphates with variable specific surface areas were synthesized from vanadium alkoxides and phosphoric acid by precipitation in various solvents. The catalytic properties were studied in the reaction of methanol oxidation. Although the specific activities increase with the specific surface areas (BET), the intrinsic activities seem to depend on the particle morphology. The selectivities do not vary within a large range. The same method of precipitation was applied to prepare vanadium phosphates on a silica support. It is shown that the supported phase is highly dispersed, and that these supported catalysts are more stable than silica-supported vanadium oxide for methanol oxidation.